Guided by Voices: Sunfish Holy Breakfast/Plantations of Pale Pink

Guided by Voices: Sunfish Holy Breakfast

1996

Matador Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Jabberstroker  2. Stabbing a Star  3. Canteen Plums  4. Beekeeper Seeks Ruth  5. Cocksoldiers and Their Postwar Stubble  6. A Contest Featuring Human Beings  7. If We Wait  8. Trendspotter Acrobat  9. The Winter Cows  10. Heavy Metal Country



Guided by Voices: Plantations of Pale Pink

1996

Matador Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Systems Crash  2. Catfood on the Earwig  3. The Who vs. Porky Pig  4. A Life in Finer Clothing  5. The Worryin' Song  6. Subtle Gear Shifting


"Sunfish Holy Breakfast" is a 1996 EP that I sorta consider an album, since it's over 20 minutes, which means it's only 5 minutes shorter than say, "Sandbox." Considering most other GBV EP's run around the 10 minute mark, I tend to think if it as a mini-album...

This was released the same day as the 12-minute "Plantations of Pale Pink" EP (which also has a naked dude on the cover. Although the Pale Pink guy isn't as well-fed as the Sunfish hippies). Theoretically, they could have combined the two releases and put out a curiously patchy (but still interesting) full-length. These releases see the band squarely back in "lo-fi" territory after the cleaner recording of "Under the Bushes, Under the Stars" and the two solo albums.  I dunno, maybe some of this was recorded prior to those works? Maybe their home-recorded qualities are the reason they weren't' released as a full-length?  Of the two releases "Sunfish Holy Breakfast" is the clear winner even though "Plantations" boasts "The Worryin' Song" which is fucking amazing, for sure...It's just Bob and a guitar but it turns unexpectedly epic when Pollard sings:

"And that's what bothers me Like my father before meAnd the mothers that bore me..."

The guitar and Bob are just playing off of each other perfectly at that point, with big, sweeping strums punctuating the proclamations.  Just a head-slappingly great moment. Oh yea. And "Systems Crash" has a wonderful hook. The rest of the of  "Plantations of Pale Pink" EP is oddly hookless...It's mostly churning, noisy, psychedelic rock...Interesting, but not on the level of "Sunfish" which has a handful of all-time classics on it...

"Sunfish Holy Breakfast" kicks off with my all-time favorite Tobin Sprout track, "Jabberstroker." The song begins with someone boisterously shouting, "One more!" to a flurry of handclaps that always bring to mind the introduction of "Over the Neptune/Mesh  Gear Fox." This imaginary crowd sounds much smaller, which makes sense considering "Jabberstroker" is a much more intimate production that the laser-lit "Over the Neptune." The song is just Tobin and a clankety electric guitar, but the results are mesmerising. The melody is his most solid and his performance is completely enigmatic. To this day I still don't exactly know what is being sung but I hang on to every word...

The remainder of the EP largely follows the "just guitar and vocals" template, but most of them are so catchy you hardly notice the lack of drums (Jim Greer's "Trendspotter Acrobat" is pretty rough though...If ever you're questioning the writing and performing abilities of Pollard and Sprout, spin this real quick and it'll readjust your alignment).  The other big classic here is "If We Wait" which is a lovely, stumbling "Rubber Soul"-esque 6/8 acoustic rocker. Bob's vocal is really sweet-sounding and hits you right in the feelies...

I'll also single out "Cocksoldiers and Their Postwar Stubble" as a minor classic. Slow, syrupy, grand. I like it. The noisy, scratchy "Stabbing a Star" feels like it could have wandered over from "Plantations" (I think this song is about anal sex or something with all the talk of shallow manholes, rockets in molasses, star-stabbing, fur rubbing, etc) but its inclusion early on "Sunfish Holy Breakfast" livens the EP up, I think. Let's hear it for rocking without abandon...

So yea, two more GBV albums released on the same day...Pollard would continue this practice a couple more times throughout his career. I think "Plantations of Pale Pink" is skippable (as long as you track down "The Worryin' Song") but "Sunfish Holy Breakfast" is a must-have...

So let's update the rankings...Today we get one item added to the "Full-Length and 20-minute-ish EP's" category and one to the "Singles and 10-Minute-ish EP's" category...I'm putting "Sunfish" between "Same Place the Fly Got Smashed" and "Not in My Airforce." It just has that classic GBV glow that appears only sporadically on "Not In My Airforce." 

1. Guided by Voices: Alien Lanes

2. Guided by Voices: Bee Thousand

3.Guided by Voices: Under the Bushes, Under the Stars

4. Guided by Voices: Propeller

5. Tobin Sprout: Carnival Boy

6. Guided by Voices: Same Place the Fly Got Smashed

7. Guided by Voices: Sunfish Holy Breakfast

8. Robert Pollard: Not In My Airforce

9.  Guided by Voices: King Shit and the Golden Boys

10. Guided by Voices: Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia

11. Guided by Voices: Vampire on Titus

12. Guided by Voices: Sandbox

13. Guided by Voices: Forever Since Breakfast

14. Guided by Voices: Devil Between My Toes 

"Plantations" has the # 5 spot on the singles/super short EP's list...I personally think the "Freedom Cruise/Nighwalker" split is more fun. 

1. Fast Japanese Spin Cycle
2. The Grand Hour
3. Get Out of My Stations
4. The Freedom Cruise/Nightwalker Split
5. Plantations of Pale Pink
6.. Guided by Voices/New Radiant Storm King split 7-inch

Alright. Let's listen to some music...Here's "Jabberstroker" by GBV...

..and "The Worryin' Song" by GBV...Enjoy...